


Family

by DreamingIce



Series: 2012 iPod Shuffle ficlets [20]
Category: NCIS
Genre: Gen, Recovery, Team as Family, iPod challenge, oblique references to torture, past trauma
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-22
Updated: 2014-10-22
Packaged: 2018-02-22 04:47:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 311
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2495009
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DreamingIce/pseuds/DreamingIce
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Just because they weren't born family doesn't mean that they aren't just as precious. Post season 7.</p><p>Originally written as part of a multifandom challenge in 2012 - 10 songs from my iPod on shuffle=5 ficlets from various fandoms each month, every month.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Family

**Author's Note:**

> **Theme:** Crash and Burn – Savage Garden  
>  _When you feel all alone_  
>  And the world has turned its back on you  
> Give me a moment please  
> to tame your wild wild heart  
> I know you feel like  
> the walls are closing in on you  
> It's hard to find relief  
> and people can be so cold

The first months back in D.C. after Somalia are harsh.

Ziva finds herself jumping slightly at little things when she is alone. She does her best to pretend that things haven't changed when she's with the team. She knows that they don't believe her for a minute, but none of them have called her on it, which she is grateful of.

The therapist she had been to assigned to was better than she had expected, and slowly, she was making some progress past the backlog of hurt and trauma.

Nevertheless, there was still an emptiness that lingered on the periphery of Ziva's mind. She'd never had many people close to her. Her family, who should have been closest, was a mess. Her mother and sister long dead, a traitorous brother whose blood was on her hands, and a father that only seemed to remember he had a daughter when it was convenient for him to use her for the job. She was sick of his manipulations, but now in cutting herself free of the never-ending games, she had isolated herself from the last family she had.

A soft knock at the door interrupts her thoughts, and a quick check through the peephole reveals Tony, Abby and McGee standing at her door. Putting on a smile, Ziva lets them inside.

Abby immediately hugs her, and Ziva's question for the reason of the visit is muffled somewhat by the scientist's embrace.

"Movie night," Tony answers simply. "It's been ages since we've had one."

He's holding up a small stack of DVDs. A warm light starts to fill Ziva as the team falls into a familiar routine: bickering over the movie selection and who gets to sit where, rummaging for snacks, and eventually the running commentary of snark through the movie.

This was her real home now. This was the family she chose.


End file.
